Police to file case against Zee for airing interview of gang-rape victim’s friend

The Delhi Police on Friday decided to register a case against Zee News after the channel aired an interview with the male friend of the girl who was gang-raped in Delhi on December 16, a shocking crime to which he is the lone witness.

The case will be filed under Section 228 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to disclosure of identity of victims of certain offences, including rape, Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.

In the interview, the person severely criticised the time taken by the police to respond and the indifference of the public while he and the girl lay on the road after being thrown out of the bus.

He said that after they were stripped and thrown off the bus they tried to stop people passing by, but no one stopped for about 25 minutes.

Three police control room vans arrived at the scene after about 45 minutes. But they wasted time in deciding under which police station’s jurisdiction the case fell, he said. The horrendous crime led to widespread public protests in several parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Saturday refuted allegations made by the male friend of gang-rape victim about delay in taking them to hospital and said that PCR vans reached the spot within no time after receiving the call.

Addressing a press conference, Joint Commissioner of Police (South-West) Vivek Gogia dismissed allegations that police response was tardy and the PCR vans wasted time in taking them to a hospital by arguing over jurisdiction of the case. “There was no issue over jurisdiction of the case as PCR vans do not operate under police stations and their operation is regulated by control room at police headquarters,” he said.

He said the control room received a call about the incident at 10:21 pm on December 16 and a PCR van Z-54 was assigned the call at 10:24 pm. But another PCR E-74 van reached the spot first on its own at 10:27 pm while the Z-54 reached there at 10:29 pm. He said the police personnel on Z-54 van left the spot with the victims at 10:39 pm after arranging bed-sheet from a nearby hotel to cover both the victims, he said.

“The victims were transferred to Safdarjung Hospital at 10.55 pm. These details have been ascertained from the logs generated by Global Positioning System,” he said.

“It is also clarified that PCR vans are not concerned with jurisdiction. They move or response to distress calls irrespective of their jurisdiction and to take them to designated hospital,” he said.

On claims that the victims were not taken to a nearby private hospital, Mr. Gogia said there are notified designated multi-disciplinary hospital where the victims of medico-legal cases are taken. He said the male friend was discharged from Safdarjung Hospital after “first aid and treatment within a few hours” of being brought to the hospital.

About the nature of his injuries, Gogia said the hospital had assessed him and police has no authority on this. Queried whether the male friend’s interview will affect the case, he said, “our aim is to get the appropriate punishment for the criminals very fast. I cannot comment more on this as it is sub-judice,” he said.